We All Need Someone To Lean On
by In A Rush
Summary: Takes place after the episode where all the residents are Attendings for the day. This takes place when Lexie is asleep on the bench.  Read on and it will gradually develop more of a story line
1. Chapter 1

After having gotten changed out of his attending scrubs and feeling relieved that he could now go back to being a resident so he could just let go of the day's events, Jackson heads out of the change room and goes to get a drink with April at Joes before heading to what he now called home at Meredith's house.

After having finished his drink he realises that he has left a few things in his locker that he needs.

Sighing out loud, he says to April "Hey I need to meet you back home, I accidently left a few things in my locker and I really need to get them so I am just going to head back to the hospital to get them."

"Do you want me to go with you?" She asks looking up at him while sipping her drink through a straw.

"No thanks, I shouldn't be too long anyway, I will see you later." He says as he gets up out of the booth and walks out of the bar.

"Yeah sure, I will see you later than." April mutters under her breath.

….

Walking into the change rooms a little while later, Jackson see's Lexie fast asleep on the bench and dead to the world. Sighing he stands there and grabs his stuff out of his locker. He feels for her, she had a lot on her plate today running around everywhere as what they called a scut monkey, but truth was she was the person that had managed to keep the place running while everyone else was too busy preparing speeches or letting the dark blue scrubs get to their egos. She deserved to sleep but he knew she also deserved to sleep on something more comfortable than a bench, such as her own bed.

With that thought in his mind he crouches down and looks at her face before tapping her softly on the shoulder.

"Mmm, go away." She mumbles.

"Come on Lexie, you need to get home to sleep." Jackson says nudging her.

"Too tired." She mutters.

Sighing he knows it is going to be too difficult to convince her to get up, so he grabs her stuff with his and grabs her car keys before he bends down over her and carries her in his arms.

Burying her head into the crook of his neck she lets out a content sigh and grabs a fistful of his shirt before starting to softly snore.

Not wanting to draw too much attention that she really doesn't need at the moment, he looks around but can't find what his looking for. So he decides to quickly walk out of the room and goes to a supply closet and grabs a blanket and does his best to throw it over her sleeping frame to ensure her face is covered.

After managing the difficult task he walks out of the supply closet and heads towards the elevator to head out into the car park. Getting into the elevator he ignores all the stares he is receiving and heads towards the back of the elevator and regrets it instantly as he is standing next to Mark.

"Dr Avery." He says nodding his head slightly.

"Dr Sloan." Jackson addresses and subconsciously tightens his hold on Lexie.

"Who have you got there?" Mark asks.

"No one you need to know about, they are tired so I thought I would give them their privacy from prying eyes." Jackson says glaring at Mark who is trying to work out who he has in his arms under the blanket.

"How is Lexie doing?" Marks ask.

"Is it really any of your business?" Jackson asks getting annoyed at how the man can pretend like he has done nothing wrong.

"Well, I care about her and I still love her, but she won't speak to me on more than a professional basis." Mark says.

" Well can you blame her, seriously if you love her like you say you do, you have a funny way of showing it." Jackson says.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Mark asks confused.

Snorting now, Jackson rolls his eyes and says " You say you care for her and love her, and just when she thinks she should give you one more chance, you throw it back in her face by sleeping with Derek's sister." Seeing the shocked look on his face, Jackson adds "Yeah that's right, she saw you with your tongue down her throat, so she left, now she has given up on you, if you love her as much as you say you do than you will let her go, she deserves better than that, especially after everything she has been through in that past year or two." Jackson says before walking out of the elevator.

….

Walking into Meredith's house, he sees Alex, Meredith, Derek and April sitting in the lounge room watching some random show on the television.

"Hey. Is she okay?" Meredith asks looking worriedly at her sister and getting up off the couch to walk up to them.

"Yeah, she is just tired from today I think, she was still asleep on the bench when I got back to the hospital and I couldn't wake her up so I had to put a blanket over her face so no one knew who it was, she gets stared at enough, and lucky I did cover her up." Jackson says as they both looked at Lexie.

"How did you get home when you didn't have a car, and what do you mean lucky you did?" Meredith asks as everyone listens in.

"I grabbed Lexie's car keys and drove us home, I ran into Mark into the elevator, he didn't realise it was her, but he was asking about her and acting like he did nothing wrong, so I kind of had a go at him telling him he has a funny way of showing that he loves her when all he does is go and shove his tongue down Derek's sister's throat, so he probably isn't too happy with me." Jackson says.

"Yeah, well Sloan is an idiot." Alex says.

"I better out her in bed." Jackson says.

"How, you can't carry her up to the attic?" Meredith asks.

"I will put her in my bed; I can sleep on the floor." Jackson says before slowly heading up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for the overwhelming amount of reviews. It really made my day to see so many of you enjoyed the first part.**

**I hope i don't disappoint with this second part, and if you have any ideas or request of where you would like this story to go, then please feel free to drop them into your reviews :)**

Once inside his room, Jackson closes the door over with his foot, and takes Lexie over to his bed. Slowly putting her onto it he pulls the covers up over her body before he goes to turn away.

Taking a step forward he is stopped by Lexie grabbing his wrist firmly and says forcefully "Stay."

"Lexie, I'm not going anywhere, I'm just going to get changed then I'm sleeping on the floor." Jackson whispers looking down at her.

As she opens her eyes she looks at him intensely and says "Hold me please, i don't want to be alone."

"Your not going to be alone." He says trying to ease his wrist out of her grip.

"Please?" She begs.

Sighing at the fact she looks so scared and vulnerable he decides to cave in and says "Fine, scoot over." while he takes off his clothes so he is left in his boxers.

Getting in behind her as she lays on her side, he places his hand around her waist and rests his head on top of hers.

"Thank you, i just, i can't sleep at night, i see Mr Clark's face, and the words he said to me, i see Alex and Mark that day, it all replays over in my head, i then get different scenarios playing out in my dreams, i just can't take it anymore, everyone walking around eggshells around me, Alex wanting nothing to do with me because he has had enough crazy in his life, Mark constantly watching me and then goes shoving his tongue down Amelia's throat, i can't sleep, i don't feel safe and i don't like being alone." She silently rants off to him.

"Well your safe now so try not to think about that day, don't even think of blaming yourself for it either, and who cares about Mark or Alex, they are both idiots and are as bad as each other, and stuff what everyone else thinks or does around you, you just need to focus on yourself, if Meredith heard this she would go off her block at you telling you off, you have heaps of people that still care about, and hey we all hate being alone, but you won't ever be alone, your safe with me now, just close your eyes and i will be right here." He says soothingly into her hair and slowly rubbing her arm.

Once she fells asleep, he started thinking about how light she was and how he could almost feel her ribs right now. Relieved that so far his the only one who has noticed how much weight she has lost, he decides he needs to act fast and help her before it gives Meredith another thing to worry about.

Closing his eyes he tries to let sleep overcome him so he can start helping her tomorrow morning.

... Waking up the next morning, Jackson rolls over to look at the time on his clock and sees that they both have three hour until their shift starts.

Getting out of bed, he shakes Lexie and says "Wake up sleepy head and get ready, we both need to go somewhere before we start work, I'm going for a shower."

Groaning Lexie just rolls onto the other side away from Jackson. Knowing that she won't move in a hurry otherwise, he grabs his pillow and starts whacking her with it while saying "Come on, get moving Lexie, get moving, we have stuff to do today."

Sitting upright she glares at him as he grabs his change of clothes. On his way out she throws the pillow at his back and he just laughs.

...

Once they are both ready they yell out goodbye to the others in the kitchen and head out of the house with Lexie giggling at Jackson.

"At least she seems happy today, i think thats the first time i have heard her laugh this ear;y in the morning since before the shooting." Meredith says.

"At least Jackson is being a good friend to her, he must be helping some how." Derek says before putting his bowl in the sink and walking out of the kitchen.

...

"Where are we going Jackson?" Lexie asks as he turns around the corner.

"You will see in a minute." He says looking at her and smiling.

Smiling at the fact Jackson is being so mysterious, Lexie is feeling pretty happy at the moment, this is probably the first time she has felt happy and not feeling like she has to force on a smile.

Pulling into the parking lot and turning off the ignition, Jackson looks at her and says "Here we are."

"You brought me to a diner, seriously?" She asks getting out of the car.

"Yes because you need to eat, and i am not talking just some plain old cereal or toast, you need the real deal, and we aren't going to leave until you have a decent amount of food, no arguments, or i will talk to the chief." he says opening the door to the diner.

"Hey you can't do that." She exclaims in genuine shock.

"I can, so sit down and order some food, you don't need Meredith or anyone else for that matter worrying about whether you are starting to suffer from anaerobic, seriously Lexie, you have dropped heaps of weight and not in a good way, your going to start eating more until i am satisfied you are back to a healthy weight again." He says sternly.

"Yes Dr Avery, I'm pretty hungry anyway and if it's your shout then i will eat as much as i can." She says cheekily.

"Of course you would, well lets pick some stuff out and eat before we have to go to work," He says smiling at the fact that she isn't arguing with him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so I apologise for the delay in posting because I was in hospital getting a couple of tests done last week so I am a bit behind in my updating.**

**Thanks again for all the lovely reviews; I am really stoked to read them.**

**So here is the next part for all of those that have been patiently waiting.**

…..

Arriving at the hospital together they both head to the resident's lounge to get changed with the others before their shift had to start.

Sitting down on the bench next to Meredith, Lexie ties her shoelaces.

"So where did you guys run off too?" Meredith asks looking them both over trying to see if she could notice a change.

"We just went and grabbed some breakfast." Jackson says closing his locker and leaning up against it with his arms crossed over his stomach.

"You do realise that we have plenty of edible food in the house." Meredith states raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah but you can only have so much cereal and toast before it gets boring." Jackson says.

"Oh yeah and you can't cook something up with all that time you had?" Meredith asks.

"Well I we could have but we couldn't be bothered, it's been a long couple of months, especially the past couple of weeks." He says.

"It's been a long couple of months for all of us too, we all went through the shooting, and I don't see why you think you're the only one who is finding it tough." Alex says intervening from his seat next to Meredith.

With that being said Jackson went quiet and walked out of the room. Once the door had closed over, Lexie stood up and glared at them both before saying "Are you guys so self-absorbed in yourselves, you just couldn't let us be, you couldn't just let him be, no, you just had to start the Spanish inquisition on him, he wanted to do something nice for me because I have been having a hard time, that's what friends do."

"Well I am just looking out for you Lexie, I don't want you to rush into another relationship so quickly, our hearts live in our vagina, and I am just looking out for you." Meredith says.

"You don't get to judge, and is it so wrong for him to want to look out for me and not have an ulterior motive, I will do what I want with who I want, I get that you care and you want to protect me, but Jackson is my friend." Lexie says before turning onto Alex.

"And you, yes we all went through a tough time with the shooting, yeah you got shot and Derek got shot, Hunt got shot, Meredith lost her baby, I had a gun pointed to my head, Bailey, Callie and Arizona crossed his path, Cristina had to operate on Derek with a gun aimed at her head, but Jackson lost his friends, the ones that stuck with him from Mercy West and you go and say shit like that, you both are meant to be his friends and you do that to him, great job." Lexie rants off before storming out of the room to go find Jackson.

"Dude I say she needs another trip to the psych ward." Alex said to Meredith.

Smacking him across the head she says "That's my sister and she has a point." Meredith says before shaking her head in disgust and moving over to where Cristina and April were.

….

Running down the halls of the hospital, Lexie is getting anxious that she can't find Jackson. In a hurry she turns around a corner and smacks into Mark.

"Hello Dr Grey, why are you in a hurry, rounds don't start for another 20 minutes." He says taking in her appearance and noting how out of breath she was.

"I…. need to… find…. Jackson." She says out of breath.

"Oh Dr Avery, he stormed past me about 5 minutes ago, he was headed towards the stairwell." Mark says.

"Thanks Dr Sloan." Lexie says straightening up.

"Lexie….." Mark says.

"Not now Dr Sloan." Lexie says before running off to the stairwell.

…

Entering the stairwell she doesn't see him at first so she decides to walk down a couple of floors. After walking down two floors, she sees him sitting on a step with his chin resting on the railing.

Walking up to him, she places a hand on his shoulder and says "Hey."

Not looking at her he says "Hey."

"Can I sit here?" She asks.

"Yeah." Is his reply.

Sitting down next to him she can tell he is upset, so placing a finger on his chin she pulls his face towards her and she wipes a stray tear from his cheek. He hasn't been crying but his eyes look slightly watery.

"Sorry for running out like that." He says looking into her eyes and instantly feeling calmer.

"It's okay, they were out of line." She says.

"Yeah I guess so." He says.

Sitting there in silence, she grabs his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze before placing it in her lap and just providing him with company.

Knowing they don't have long until rounds starts, she says "You know you can talk to me yeah, I am here for you." She says.

"Yeah, I know, thanks, but I'm not ready to talk, maybe after our shift ends." He says looking at her.

"Sure, whenever you need me." She says not wanting to pressure him.

"Thanks, and thanks for being here for me." He says squeezing her hand and sitting there in silence again just enjoying the fact that he has her there by his side. 


End file.
